I have always liked Recorded Books' Modern Scholar collection for the variety of topics covered and the format they use to keep the lectures user friendly (i.e., 14 half hour long lessons). But for this title, the format seemed to work against it. To meet the format of Modern Scholar and still cover business scions from the beginning of American to today, Brands chose to dedicate each lecture to only one person. For some, that was sufficient, but when you try to explain the entire history of the development of the US Railway system and its impact on business in the same half hour you talk about Rockefeller, the coverage becomes thin. While I like Brands' style, I finished the collection feeling I learned very little new. He would have been better served to break this into eras first (does Bill Gates really need to be in the same edition as John Jacob Astor?) so that more detail could have been pursued. Still a good read, just less than it could have been ( )